Instructor: Caroline Bledsoe, Department of Land, Air & Water Resources, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
Description: The subject matter introduces students to culinary and medicinal herbs, including their identification, uses in cooking and herbal medicine. Students will learn to identify common herbs and visit campus herb gardens. The class will explore the scientific evidence for use of herbal supplements and the effects of herbs on health. Information will be presented through informal lectures, readings, and questions about uses of herbs to guide student discussion.
Format: The seminar will meet for one hour each week for ten weeks. The time will be divided between informal lecture presentations, discussion, and student presentations. Reading material includes the text (Herbal Renaissance by Steven Foster) and other materials provided by instructor. Grading: Students will be given a letter grade based on: frequency and quality of their class participation (35%), the quality of their oral presentation (35%), and their score on 2 quizzes that test their ability to identify herbs (30%). Each student is expected to give a short 10 min. presentation about an herb of their choice.
About the Instructor: Professor Caroline Bledsoe is a faculty member in the Department of Land, Air and Water Resources, Soils and BioGeoChemistry Section. Her research interests include the ecology of mycorrhizal associations and plant nutrition in California native oak forests and woodlands. She is also interested in the biology of culinary and medicinal herbs. Current projects include studies of the influence of mycorrhizal fungi on exchanges of carbon and nitrogen in oaks, grasses and forbs in oak woodlands. She currently teaches a course Culinary and Medicinal Herbs in Spring Quarters (ERS/PLS 140, 3 units, lecture/discussion); enrollment is generally 45-65 students.